To be able to accomplish many kinds of tasks having to do with computers on college campuses and in many organizations, basic Unix skills are essential.

People use Unix for: document processing, storage, programming, electronic communication, business, etc.

Unix gives you access to computer resources

Unix is an operating system. An operating system is a set of programs that control and organize resources of a computer. A typical operating system gives users a way to create and manage files as well as run application programs. For example, Windows 95 is an operating system that you might have on a home computer. It gives you a visual interface to files, folders, and programs that run on Windows 95. You can create files using Microsoft Word, for example, and store these files in folders or move the files around or delete them.

Unix works well to support networks of computers. The computers running Unix on campus are networked--that is, they exchange data with each other through a campus computer network. This campus network is hooked into the Internet, so they can exchange data with millions of other computers around the world. Unix is an interface to all the resources and programs on the campus computers, network, and the world of the Internet.

A typical way to use Unix is by opening a Unix window on your computer's desktop. Another way is to sit down at a computer terminal that is dedicated to a Unix system.

Once you open a Unix window on the desktop or get to a Unix terminal, you'll have the ability to access your Unix account. The actual computer on which Unix is running might be someplace else; where it is exactly doesn't matter. All we need to access everything in our Unix account is available through a Unix window or terminal.

Your Unix account gives you access to your files

The Unix window will give you access to your Unix account. This account is where you'll store your files and work on your assignments. To use your Unix account, you'll need to login. To login, you'll need a username and password.

As a member of this course, you have a Unix account. Alternately, you might have a Unix account as part of your personal Internet account or as part of your work. You may be able to accomplish all the work for this course using your own account as opposed to the one supplied by the University.